So you had a bout of hormonal or cystic acne when you were a teen - maybe even just a run-of-the-mill breakout. Luckily, those days are long gone, but now you have the acne scars and hyperpigmentation to remind you of it (ugh). If you're stuck with blemishes from years ago and looking to start fresh, it's time to start exploring hyperpigmentation treatments.
Nobody asks for hyperpigmentation. Yet, it's a problem many of us are forced to deal with during our teen and adult years. You can blame these unsightly blemishes on plenty of things, from nutritional deficiencies and skin trauma to good old genetic predisposal.
Hyperpigmentation around mouth areas is especially common in cases of hormone change. Whatever the reason, it can persist for months to years if left unaddressed.
These might seem like permanent and unwelcome ghosts of breakouts past, but they don’t have to be. Read on to find out how to get rid of hyperpigmentation for good.
How to Get Rid of Hyperpigmentation: Products and Procedures
The good news? No matter what post-acne woes you’re dealing with, there are tons of hyperpigmentation treatments available today to help you address them. We're going to cover some of the most effective professional treatments, best products for hyperpigmentation, and how to use them.
Let’s dive in.
Microneedling
Best for: Scarring
Acne scars are caused by too much uneven collagen production in the dermis where you had the spot. Microneedling can help even out that collagen by making small micro-wounds in the skin that force it to produce healthy collagen and elastin that will reform the skin.
Micro Needle Dermaroller
Our Micro Needle Dermaroller is the simplest solution to hyperpigmentation face scars you'll find. It consists of hundreds of 0.3mm needles designed to micro-puncture the skin and promote new collagen and elastin growth, effectively rebalancing the tissues behind your blemishes. Traditional laser treatment isn't always effective with hyperpigmentation on black skin - this roller is the perfect alternative.
Most Loved Starter Routine
Want the benefits of the dermaroller plus extra skin care goodies for hyperpigmentation? Look no further than our Most Loved Starter Routine, complete with a roller, face wash, serum, and moisturizer.
Peels and Resurfacing Treatments
Best for: Scarring
If you don’t have ultra-severe scars, you could get a ton of benefit from a chemical peel.
Peels can even be done at home, and they can renew the skin’s surface and reduce the depth and noticeability of acne scars. Overall, you’ll want to look for a product that offers gentle chemical exfoliation with AHAs or BHAs. What's our best acid for hyperpigmentation? Glycolic acid.
This will both slough away dead scar cells and kick-start your body’s natural collagen production.
Soulmate Brightening Treatment
Why suffer with hyperpigmentation face blemishes if you don't have to? Our Soulmate Brightening Treatment's chemical peels can resolve them by penetrating deep into the skin to break up dark clusters of melanin. This is a super easy and affordable way to get the results you're looking for - all from the comfort of home.
Daily Essentials Routine
Hyperpigmentation acne and related tissue problems can take a toll on your self-confidence. The Daily Essentials Routine is designed to restore it and your skin health. Take advantage of our full-blown regimen to moisturize and brighten those dark spots for good. Its moisturizers can facilitate cell turnover in a much gentler fashion - not to mention make your skin feel super soft.
Botanical Oils
Best for: Hyperpigmentation
If you’re up on the latest skincare trends and research, you know that face oils have firmly earned their spot as one of the “it” products to use. And with good reason. If you find the right oil for you, it can truly give you your best skin ever.
And yes, this applies to acne and hyperpigmentation treatment, too.
There are a few things you can look for here. First, there are oils like tea tree oil that can actually help heal blemishes while providing antibacterial benefits. Similarly, frankincense can actually stimulate cell turnover, helping to heal and fade scars.
Overall, though, you can’t go wrong with a gentle, soothing oil that will rebuild the skin’s natural barrier and hydrate while soothing redness and calming reactiveness. This includes:
- Rosehip
- Chamomile
- Squalane
- Calendula
- Neroli
Plus, these oils can be used in combination with vitamin C, antioxidants, and calming moisturizers to brighten and protect the skin. Neroli oil even helps your body absorb vitamin C.
You can find a comprehensive list of face oils (and what they’re best for) here - and you can find a soothing neroli, jojoba, and marula botanical oil here. Eight Saints uses jojoba oil for skin hyperpigmentation serum to promote natural healing. Take a look at our top related products for hyperpigmentation below:
Night Shift Hydration Gel
Night Shift Hydration Gel is designed to work overtime on your skin health while you get some shuteye. Formulated with potent jojoba oil, it will lock in moisture and enrich your skin’s protective barrier.
Down To Earth Gel Cleanser
Don't know how to reduce hyperpigmentation? Our Down To Earth Gel Cleanser is an easy way. This product is formulated with a slew of tissue-supporting ingredients, including bergamot peel oil, sweet orange peel oil, lemon peel oil, and ylang ylang flower oil.
Spicy Rum Punch Bar Soap
Full of natural ingredients like olive oil and coconut oil, this Spicy Rum Punch Bar Soap will gently cleanse your hyperpigmentation so it can resolve faster.
IPLs and Microdermabrasion
Best for: Scarring and hyperpigmentation acne
Want something more intense? You can talk to your dermatologist about resurfacing treatments like Intense Pulse Light (IPL) and microdermabrasion:
IPL: IPL uses light energy to target a certain color in your skin. It can undo some of the visible damage caused by photoaging and acne-related hyperpigmentation.
Microdermabrasion: This non-invasive procedure uses tiny crystals or other exfoliating surfaces to help remove the superficial layer of dead skin cells. The idea is that your body will interpret this as an injury and replace the lost skin cells with new, healthy ones. Over time, this can effectively fade acne scarring and lead to a more even tone and texture.
Both treatments can be super effective at reducing scars and wrinkles. They can also even skin tone, renew dull skin, and increase clarity and elasticity.
Vitamin C
Best for: Hyperpigmentation
When it comes to hyperpigmentation treatment, vitamin C is always a great go-to choice. Why? This free-radical fighter is particularly effective at revitalizing and brightening the skin while stimulating your body’s natural production of collagen.
As such, it can both address existing pigmentation and prevent dark spots from forming in the future.
Cherry Almond Butter Sugar High Hand Cream
High in Vitamin C, our Cherry Almond Butter Sugar High Hand Cream works hard to brighten the skin, combat wrinkles, even skin tone, and reduce inflammation. It's one of the best hyperpigmentation treatment options we can recommend for individuals with spots on both their hands and face.
Cloud Whip Face Cream
Say goodbye to hyperpigmentation acne and hello to clear skies with Cloud Whip Face Cream. Our advanced formula combats dark spots and can even prevent discoloration through deep-penetrating ingredients like MSM, jojoba oil, and tamanu benefits for skin.
Seeking C Face Serum
Choose Seeking C Face Serum if you want an acne hyperpigmentation treatment that's as good as promoting skin health as it is reducing dark spots.
AHAs and BHAs
Best for: Hyperpigmentation
The best acids for hyperpigmentation are AHAs and BHAs. AHAs (like glycolic and lactic acid) and BHAs (like salicylic acid) can be used to reduce both scarring and acne-related hyperpigmentation. While they’re slightly different - you can find a full breakdown of AHAs vs BHAs here - both will promote a more even and clear skin tone.
Similarly, a combination of AHAs and BHAs will encourage cell turnover without causing the redness and damage of a physical exfoliant.
We recommend that you start with hyperpigmentation products like an everyday AHA moisturizer with hyaluronic acid and glycolic acid: it’ll both exfoliate and provide moisture to the skin so you don’t end up with a damaged natural barrier or dry out your skin.
If your skin responds exceptionally well, you can kick things up a notch with a combination product.
Hometown Honey Bar Soap
Containing tranexamic acid, azelaic acid, kojic acid, glycolic acid and niacinamide, our Hometown Honey Bar Soap's powerful ingredients will tackle dark spots all over your body.
All In Eye Cream
Eight Saints' All In Eye Cream includes hydrating lactic acid and AHA to prevent excess melanin overproduction and the darkening it’s known to cause.
All In Routine
Create the best hyperpigmentation treatment regimen ever with the All In Routine’s comprehensive collection of skincare products. In it, you'll not only find advanced hyperpigmentation serum, but also additional treatments formulated with ever-essential AHAs and BHAs.
LED Light Therapy
Best for: Hyperpigmentation
If you’ve been on Instagram, you’ve probably seen your fair share of light-emitting diode (LED) light therapy masks and wands ads. They’re those very iRobot-meets-Jabawockeez masks that are supposed to treat and perfect your skin with various colors of light.
The claim? That the LED infrared light energy can “awaken” your skin and cause it to react in beneficial ways. Fortunately, this is one of the “hot new trends” that actually really works.
One study found that light therapy “demonstrated significant results for the treatment of medical conditions, including mild-to-moderate acne vulgaris, wound healing, psoriasis, squamous cell carcinoma in situ (Bowen’s disease), basal cell carcinoma, actinic keratosis, and cosmetic applications.” What’s more, these results came free of adverse effects.
When it comes to acne and hyperpigmentation treatment, in particular, LED therapy can treat loss of collagen, attack active acne breakouts, and prompt cellular repair, thereby helping your skin recover from breakouts quickly and more effectively.
Interested? You can buy your own LED mask here.
Lightening Creams
Lightening creams aren't the best products for hyperpigmentation, as some of their ingredients can work counterproductively to skin health. But if you've got darker skin, they can still work as a viable alternative to lasers. Just try to be selective with the products you use and ensure they're both natural and gentle.
Minis X 3
Want to know how to reduce hyperpigmentation on the go? Minis X 3. This simple routine has licorice root, a noted natural lightener, plus other lightening ingredients like Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and MSM.
All Nighter Routine
The All Nighter Routine uses natural ingredients to hydrate the skin and fight hyperpigmentation in two easy steps.
Sunscreen
Best for: Prevention
One of the best tools that you have here is prevention, and proper suncare can both heal existing hyperpigmentation and help prevent new issues from forming. Remember, UV exposure stimulates pigment production, which means that when it comes to any kind of dark spots, it can make things ten times worse.
Sidestep these issues by avoiding prolonged sun exposure and wearing a broad-spectrum SPF every day.
Who says hyperpigmentation products can't double as UV protection? Our Chase The Sun SPF 30 Face Moisturizer proves them wrong by defending healing dark spots against harmful rays, allowing them to heal better and faster. A great hyperpigmentation treatment for dark skin and light skin alike, you can apply it every day to improve your chances of great results.
When to See a Dermatologist
Even with all of the best ingredients for hyperpigmentation we've outlined, there's still a chance that your blemishes will persist after several months of effort. If that is the case, your next option is traditional dermatologist-led acne hyperpigmentation treatment. What this looks like can vary from person to person, as not all skin types are equally suited for laser and chemical peel methods. Your doctor will work with you to devise a treatment plan tailored to your needs.
Understanding Hyperpigmentation and Acne Scars: What's the Difference?
Overall, the term “acne scarring”, or hyperpigmentation acne can refer to a whole range of marks that an acne breakout can leave behind.
These marks can appear as pigmentation, or as rolling, boxcar, and ice-pick scars, and any raised scars and patches of pigmentation can linger for months, even years.
That said, there’s an important distinction between a full-blown acne scar and post-breakout hyperpigmentation, which means that they each require different treatments. Let’s dive into the differences, then, before we cover the treatment).
Scars: Physical Damage to the Skin
Scars, on one hand, are post acne marks that appear when people touch and squeeze spots. They’re especially likely to form on individuals who have cystic acne or significant congestion that was picked too soon and too aggressively.
This overzealousness damages nearby veins, glands, and tissues, causing the spots to scar. The scars themselves - the rolling, boxcar, or ice-pick stars we discussed above - are made of an overproduction of collagen that forms when the wound is healing.
Hyperpigmentation: Melanin Overproduction
Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, on the other hand, is simply an overproduction of melanin that occurs as a result of trauma to the skin.
Hyperpigmentation doesn’t damage the follicle, so it often isn’t considered a true form of scarring. That said, like sun damage, the discolored patches can still be a major annoyance and something that most women want to get rid of.
If you want to know how to remove pigmentation from your face permanently, the best course of action is further research. Post acne marks are different from traditional scars in a number of ways, such as size and depth, and therefore will heal in a unique way.
They can also appear in plenty of places, from the face to hands and back. Some individuals, such as those with a history of acne or certain genetics, may even find themselves at a higher risk of developing hyperpigmentation. It's important to understand the playing field and where you stand on it before pursuing permanent treatment options.
Types of Hyperpigmentation
From discoloration around mouth areas to dark spots on the hands, there are many specific types of hyperpigmentation out there. Identifying the one you're struggling with will be helpful in narrowing down treatment options. Take a look at this basic overview of age spots, melasma, and post-inflammatory trauma to get started:
Age Spots
Age spots, as you might guess, occur with aging. They're also commonly referred to as sunspots and liver spots, and usually begin appearing after 30 years old.
Melasma
Melasma is a common form of hyperpigmentation around the mouth and cheek areas, thought to be due to changes in hormone levels. Melasma, or perioral hypermelanosis, is often triggered with the onset of pregnancy or use of birth control. Melasma kind of looks like patches of freckles on the face - these can range from mild to dark and are worsened with intense ultraviolet rays or intense heat.
Post-inflammatory Trauma
Post-inflammatory trauma refers to any kind of hyperpigmentation that occurs after skin tissue is damaged. Superficial injuries - including acne - are known to trigger excess melanin production, leading to discoloration.
Key Takeaways: It's Not a Life Sentence
Knowing how to get rid of hyperpigmentation can be super helpful in your journey to achieving clear skin. While stubborn, these blemishes are not impossible to beat - just use the best practices we've covered in this article. Eight Saints' line of skincare products for hyperpigmentation has everything you need to protect your skin and keep it healthy long-term. Start shopping and ditch hyperpigmentation for good today.